Reading Assignment #34: 1090,1106,1107 & 1150

1090: “And this happened on the last day of my novena to the Holy Spirit. After this return to health, I found myself united with the Lord Jesus in a purely spiritual way. Jesus gave me strong assurances; that is, He confirmed me in respect to His demands. I remained close to the Lord Jesus all that day and talked with Him about the details concerning that congregation.

(24) Jesus infused my soul with power and courage to act. Now I understand that if the Lord demands something of a soul, He gives it the means to carry it out, and through grace He makes it capable of doing this. So, even if the soul be utterly miserable, at the Lord’s command it can undertake things beyond its expectation, because this is the sign by which it can be known that the Lord is with that soul: if God’s power and strength, which make the soul courageous and valiant, is manifest within it. As for myself, I am always at first a bit frightened at the Lord’s greatness, but afterwards my soul is filled with profound peace which nothing can disturb, as well as an inner strength to do what[…]”

Excerpt From: Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska. “Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul.” iBooks.

“1106 (28) + Virtue without prudence is not virtue at all. We should often pray to the Holy Spirit for this grace of prudence. Prudence consists in discretion, rational reflection and courageous resolution. The final decision is always up to us. We must decide; we can and we ought to seek advice and light…

1107 Today during meditation, God gave me inner light and the understanding as to what sanctity is and of what it consists. Although I have heard these things many times in conferences, the soul understands them in a different way when it comes to know of them through the light of God which illumines it.

Neither graces, nor revelations, nor raptures, nor gifts granted to a soul make it perfect, but rather the intimate union of the soul with God. These gifts are merely ornaments of the soul, but constitute neither its essence nor its perfection. My sanctity and perfection consist in the close union of my will with the will of God. God never violates our free will. It is up to us whether we want to receive God’s grace or not. It is up to us whether we will cooperate with it or waste it.

Excerpt From: Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska. “Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul.” iBooks.

“1150 Today, I experienced a good deal of sorrow because of a certain person, a lay person, that is. On the basis of one true thing, she said many things which were fictitious. And because they were taken to be true and spread around the whole house, when the news reached my ears, my heart felt a twinge of pain. How can one abuse the goodness of others like that? But I resolved not to say a word in my defense and to show even greater kindness toward that person. I became aware, however, that I was not strong enough to bear this calmly, because the matter lingered on for weeks. When I saw the storm building up and the wind beginning to blow sand straight into my eyes, I went before the Blessed Sacrament and said to the Lord, “Lord Jesus, I ask You to give me the strength of Your actual grace, because I feel that I will not manage to survive this struggle. Shield me with Your breast.”

Then I heard the words, Do not fear; I am with you. When I left the altar, an extraordinary peace and power filled my soul, and the storm[…]”

Excerpt From: Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska. “Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul.” iBooks.

4 thoughts on “Reading Assignment #34: 1090,1106,1107 & 1150”

  1. Prudence, what a virtue! To me prudence is a gift. Her understanding of these virtues is a Gift from the Holy Spirit. How often we have to remind ourselves to listen carefully before we answer. As said, that is why we have 2 ears and 1 mouth.
    In her entry of 1050, I was impressed with her human factor. How many times we hear things about us personally and we are hurt and angry especially when it is not true? The way she forgave the person and her realization it was her problem she must deal with it with God.

  2. 1090: Strength to do what the Lord demands. Grace!
    1106: Prudence – using our brain with courage after seeking Divine Light.
    1107: God’s light comes often in prayer.
    1150: “Lord Jesus, I ask you to give me the strength of your actual grace, because I feel that I will not manage to survive this struggle.” I must adopt this prayer. Bonnie

    1090,1106,1107 & 1150: Remember when we learned about the 4 Cardinal virtues? Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude. Seems like St. Faustina meditates on 2 of these: in 1090 Courage, “(the soul) can undertake things beyond its expectation, because this is the sign by which it can be known that the Lord is with the the soul: if God’s power and strength, which make the soul courageous and valiant, is manifest within it.” And her beautifully succinct summary of Prudence and Courage in 1106, “Prudence consists in discretion, rational reflection and courageous resolution.” In 1107, Faustina saying “Yes!” to the graces of these virtues helps her towards perfection, “”My sanctity and perfection consist in the close union of my will with the will of God… It is up to us whether we want to receive God’s grace or not. It is up to us whether we will cooperate with it or waste it.” Forgive me, Lord, for the many times I have rather said, “No!” and wasted your graces. And so often it is in that split second that my fateful decision is “chosen!” But when troubled in 1150 Faustina heard the Lord’s directive of Courage, “Do not fear; I am with you.” Gene.

  3. #1090
    How wonderful it was for her to feel His presence so strongly & that it would last the day. I can only imagine what that would feel like.

    To know that our Lord takes souls or chooses to take souls that are utterly miserable & have them do these courageous acts & then leave them with total peace afterwards has to be so uplifting to all of us. If we ever feel His call for us to action we can rest assure He will be with us all the way through.

    #1106
    I am so glad she went into detail regarding the meaning of “prudence.” All the tools are there to figure out if this is from our Lord or not.

    #1107
    I love the line which Faustina relates about perfection. It isn’t all the special gifts that He grants us but our intimate union with God that leads to perfection. Again our ultimate goal is having our will in line with God’s will. For all this to begin to happen, we must act & pursue God’s grace. We either waste the time or cooperate with it. How often do I waste time when I could concentrate on doing God’s will at the time?

    #1150
    How often do we come in contact with people who disturb our peace? How often do I run to the Lord & ask for help in this matter? This makes me aware that I don’t do it enough.
    I now know of how important it is to seek “actual” grace at times when “ordinary” grace is not enough.

  4. For me, the four readings highlighted two graces- ordinary and actual. We are given so many tools from Him to help us live. I must admit I have more questions now than before about grace. I went to – http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06689x.htm (didn’t know this site existed) to clear up matters and was reading for a long time.

    I am thankful all of you found much more in these reading. Bonnie – I agree, that prayer -“Lord Jesus, I ask You to give me the strength of Your actual grace, because I feel that I will not manage to survive this struggle” should be part of my/our prayer repertoire to gain an Actual Grace.

Leave a Reply to Cocoa Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top